HELP Please !!! - Water in the Oil

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72Swinger340

72Swinger340

SKMOPARMANIAC
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I changed the oil on my 340 engine four days ago and the oil looked fine. The wife and I went cruising a couple of nights ago and when I got out on the Freeway I punched it and cloud came from the exhaust, but the heat was good and the car ran fine. Yesterday, I checked the oil and the dipstick was completely covered in white foam . I took off the valve cover tonight an they are completley covered in white foam.
My thoughts are head gasket or cracked head.

Any opinions on what to look for would be appreciated.
 
couple of thing..check intake bolts...check timing chain cover bolts...
had a water leak that i chased and had a few loose bolts.

next run compression test to see if you have a bad cylinder
 
boy I sure hate to hear of problems like this. Hope it's nothing big.
 
Probably a gasket since LA heads rarely crack. If the smoke out the exhaust is white you probably have a blown head gasket. They tend to blow on the intake side and suck coolant into the cylinder on the intake stroke and blow it into the lifter valley on the power and exhaust stroke.
 
yup. You can try pressurizing the cooling system or doing a compression test on it. Either will show you a leak. If it was caught quickly enough there may not be any real damage other than the gasket.
 
Grumps - it was blowing white smoke out of the exhaust. Got the heads off today, One spot on the drivers side between the centre two cylinders may be a problem, but may have caught it before too much damage. Going to take the heads in to get checked out.
 
I've had heads just warp and pop the gaskets before. And these are low performance stuff. It happens. At least you caught it. Have the head magnafluxed and cut flat and you should be good to go.
 
"Dumb *** mechanic" (oh guess that was me) didn't notice the middle head bolt was stretched. Heads check out A-OK. Oh well live and learn, back on the road again.:cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers:
 
Chase the threads in the block with a good tap, same with the threads on the bolts. Use straight 30wt oil, only a little (drop or two, not dunked in the bottle) and torque them evenly in three or four steps up to 95. The last bit should be smooth steady pull up to the 95 pound range. Dont stop and then go the las 1/8 turn.
 
Thanks Moper - bought new head studs and gaskets and did all of the things that you mentioned. Should be good to go now. Valuable lesson learned.
 
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